Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday warned Iran that the United States would respond “decisively” to any attack by its proxies, as tensions rise with the Israel-Hamas war.

“The United States does not seek conflict with Iran. We do not want this war to widen. But if Iran or its proxies attack US personnel anywhere, make no mistake. We will defend our people, we will defend our security — swiftly and decisively,” Blinken told a UN Security Council session.

The United States has accused Iran of assisting a renewal of attacks on US forces based in Iraq as part of a coalition against the Islamic State group.

Iran’s clerical leadership supports Hamas, which carried out a bloody assault on October 7 inside Israel which has responded with massive retaliation. Iran also has a close relationship with Lebanon’s Shiite militia Hezbollah which has had repeated conflicts with Israel.

The United States, the top diplomatic backer of Israel, last week vetoed a draft resolution on the conflict, saying it should have explicitly defended Israel’s right to self-defence.

The United States has put forward a new resolution seen by AFP that would voice sympathy for both Israeli and Palestinian casualties and defend “the inherent right of all states to individual and collective self-defence” while complying with obligations under international law.

The new resolution “incorporates substantive feedback that we received from fellow Council members over recent days,” Blinken said.

Sharing graphic accounts of Hamas militants killing children and other civilians, Blinken asked, “Where’s the outrage? Where’s the revulsion? Where’s the rejection? Where’s the explicit condemnation of these horrors?”

“We must affirm the right of any nation to defend itself and to prevent such harm from repeating itself. No member of this Council —  no nation in this entire body — could or would tolerate the slaughter of its people,” Blinken said.

A full ceasefire in Gaza would only help Hamas as Israel wages an air campaign against the militant group, but humanitarian “pauses” should be considered to let vital aid in, the White House said Tuesday.

The comments came as President Joe Biden said aid deliveries to the Palestinian enclave, under Israeli bombardment since the deadly Hamas attacks of October 7, were “not fast enough.”

“A ceasefire right now really only benefits Hamas,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told journalists.

Thousands of people have been killed on both sides since Hamas militants stormed across the border, executing civilians and seizing hostages, with Israel retaliating with relentless strikes on the Gaza Strip.

UN chief Antonio Guterres earlier Tuesday urged an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, as European Union leaders were considering a call for a pause in the fighting.

Kirby said that while Washington opposed a full ceasefire, stoppages in the fighting to facilitate the delivery of aid was “something that ought to be considered.”

“We want to see all measure of protection for civilians and pauses in an operation is a tool and a tactic that can do that for temporary periods of time,” he said.

“It’s not the same as saying a ceasefire.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier asked the UN Security Council to support a new US-led resolution on the conflict that would back “humanitarian pauses” to let in aid but not a full ceasefire.

Biden said Monday that “talk” about any ceasefire could only start once all of the more than 200 hostages taken by Hamas in the attack were released.

Kirby meanwhile warned that while the United States had urged Israel to minimize civilian casualties, some were inevitable.

“This is war. It is combat. It is bloody, ugly and it’s going to be messy and innocent civilians are going to be hurt going forward,” Kirby said.

“I wish I could tell you something different and wish that there wasn’t going to happen, but it is going to happen. And that doesn’t make it right, doesn’t make it dismissible.”

Israel was left stunned and furious by the bloody attack on southern communities in which it says Hamas killed more than 1,400 people and took the hostages, including some Americans.

Israel has responded with heavy air and artillery strikes that have killed 5,791 in Gaza, according to the Hamas-ruled health ministry, and plunged the Palestinian territory into a dire humanitarian crisis.

 Japan’s top court is set to rule on Wednesday on the validity of a legal clause that requires people who want to legally change their gender to undergo sterilisation surgery.

Several international bodies including the European Court of Human Rights, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and United Nations experts and have said such requirements are discriminatory and infringe upon human rights.

However, some local lawmakers and women’s rights groups in socially conservative Japan say a ruling that challenges the law would sow confusion and undermine women’s rights.

Japan’s Supreme Court threw out a similar legal challenge in 2019. However, a local family court last week ruled in favour of a man who requested having his gender legally changed without surgery in what rights groups called a landmark case.

“For anyone, having their gender legally recognised is an extremely fundamental human right, so being required to undergo sterilisation to enjoy that right is a significant violation of human rights,” said Kanae Doi, Japan Director at Human Rights Watch.

Japan’s existing law states people who want to change gender must present a diagnosis of gender dysphoria and meet five requirements.

Those requirements are: being at least 18 years of age; not being married; not having underage children; having genital organs that resemble those of the opposite gender; and having no reproductive glands or ones that have permanently lost their function.

The case before the Court’s 15 justices on Wednesday was brought by an unnamed plaintiff, who has been identified only as a transgender woman under the age of 50.

Her lawyers have said that the requirements violate their client’s constitutional right to pursue happiness and live without discrimination, and pose significant physical pain and financial burden to transgender people, according to local media reports.

While many countries have moved to repeal laws requiring mandatory sterilisation to legally change gender, transgender rights remain a controversial topic in Japan.

A petition organised by seven pro-surgery requirement groups collected more than 20,000 signatures as of Tuesday.

Protect the Definition of Women, a group that supports upholding the surgery requirement, submitted a separate petition to the Supreme Court last week, saying that dropping the requirement would “significantly violate women’s rights and dignity”.

Last month, a group of lawmakers from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party also issued a statement saying any ruling that deemed the law unconstitutional would sow confusion.